Business

Email woes continue to frustrate Time Warner customers

Time Warner Cable customers continue to be frustrated and angry about not being able to receive their Road Runner email account messages because of a database problem the company hasn't yet solved.

It's an intermittent problem with incoming emails, sometimes for many hours, and it's been reported across the country. Time Warner Cable says the issue has affected about 10% of Road Runner email account users.

"There's an issue with a database that is used by our email servers. While we've taken several measures to resolve this issue, we've been unable to permanently fix it at this time," company spokesman Michael Hogan said Monday in a statement.

"We don't have a resolution date at this time but continue to make this a top priority," Hogan said.

It's not a computer security issue, according to Time Warner Cable.

The company said it first identified the problem June 11, but some customers complaining on the company's Facebook page and online forums say they've had difficulties accessing their email for longer than that.

Last week, customers complained they weren't receiving Road Runner email Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and then the service returned closer to normal over the weekend before crashing again Monday.

"It was incredibly inconvenient as I was traveling to Washington, D.C., for work on the national Energy Efficiency Forum and had quite a bit of last-minute information I needed to send and receive," Haig said.

Some customers have complained about the lack of an explanation from Time Warner Cable.

"They are very evasive about why and when it will be fixed," said Dirk Hausmann, who lives in Cedarburg and is chief operating officer and chief legal officer of Bear Development in Kenosha.

Some customers say the company has told them they will receive some credit on their monthly bill, as a result of the email disruption, while others have said the company has refused to issue a billing credit.

"We will work with customers one-on-one, based on their individual service experience," Hogan said.

Some people have complained about long wait times while they attempt to get answers from the company's customer service representatives.

"I would rather go to the dentist and have a root canal, with no Novocaine, than call Time Warner," said Richard Albers of New Berlin.

"We're paying for their down time and getting no credit for it," he added about the billing.

Kia LaBracke, executive director of the Wisconsin chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and WIAAP Foundation, said she went for two days with no home email.

"When I could log on, it was incredibly slow," she said.

Time Warner says emails not received when the system is down are kept for later delivery.

"These customers may have experienced instability with their email service, such as a delay in receiving emails or an inability to send (and) receive emails. Time Warner Cable Internet customers who do not use a Road Runner email address are not impacted by this issue," Hogan said.

"We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Delivering reliable service is our top priority," he added.

Subject to approval from regulators, most Time Warner Cable customers in Wisconsin could become Charter Communications customers. Meanwhile, the company has shifted customers from the Road Runner (rr.com) addresses to twc.com addresses, even though both brands are owned by Time Warner Cable.

Still, the Road Runner email outage has left customers disappointed.

"If you are going to run a business like this, and if something goes down at this level, you need to let everybody know immediately so they can put in emergency measures like using an alternate email address. It's been really unacceptable on Time Warner's part," said Road Runner customer Theresa Reed from Milwaukee.

About Rick Barrett

Rick Barrett covers manufacturing, telecom and agriculture. He has received Best in Business awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was co-recipient of a Barlett & Steele award for investigative business journalism.